AllerGen researchers funded to develop paper-based biosensor

Dr. Parameswaran Nair and Dr. John Brennan of McMaster University have received a $600,000 award to develop a bioactive paper that aims to provide an inexpensive, point-of-care diagnostic tool for asthma and COPD.

The paper strip will measure the quantity of an eosinophil-specific protein secreted in sputum. Treatment strategies for asthma and COPD that are based on quantitative eosinophil cell counts provide significantly better outcomes than strategies guided by conventional assessments of symptoms and airflow.

NSERC and CIHR have provided $600,000 over a period of three years through the Collaborative Health Research Program to further Dr. Nair’s research on the biosensor.

Dr. Nair, an AllerGen Investigator, is the CIHR Canada Research Chair in Airway Inflammometry and Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster University. Dr. Brennan is a Canada Research Chair in Bioanalytical Chemistry and the Director of McMaster’s BioInterfaces Institute.